Stones Throw has been open about eight months on Hyde Street in San Francisco, Calif. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

A 7:30 p.m. slot on Saturday at Boulevard costs $20. You won't find a
reservation at that time on a Saturday on Open Table for the next
two months.

A 7:30 p.m. slot on Saturday at Boulevard costs $20. You won't find...

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Ryan Cole is worried about restaurant app services that charge customers for hard to get reservations in San Francisco, Calif. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

A passerby is reflected in the logo of the restaurant on Hyde Street in San Francisco, Calif. Tuesday July 29, 2014. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

Ryan Cole stocks the bar with a new wine before guests arrive Tuesday July 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

Ryan Cole stops by the kitchen and samples some beans for that night's menu Tuesday July 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

Ryan Cole smiles as he finishes stocking the bar with wine for the night Tuesday July 29, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Restaurant owner Ryan Cole is concerned about the growing number of reservation apps that charge customers and are circling the city's hottest restaurants such as his on Russian Hill called Stones Throw.

In the past few months, Ryan Cole, general manager of Stones Throw on Russian Hill, has been approached by several companies pitching him on their new online service: selling prime-time restaurant reservations.

"I usually let them explain the concept and the technology," he wrote in an e-mail, "before I cut them off and tell them I think it is borderline offensive."

As San Francisco diners know, getting exclusive dinner reservations can be infuriatingly elusive. More than a half-dozen services have leaped into the reservation-disruption business this year, most of them operating in or expanding to San Francisco. All are selling seats that diners can normally reserve for free - which is where the controversy arises.

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For example, San Francisco's Table8, which former Twitter executive Santosh Jayaram and venture capitalist Pete Goettner launched in March, advertises spots at 13 high-profile places such as Slanted Door and Foreign Cinema. A 7:30 p.m. slot on Saturday at Boulevard costs $20. You won't find a reservation at that time on a Saturday on Open Table for the next two months.

As these new businesses circle the land of the 60-day wait, they are prompting the hospitality industry to do some soul-searching: What is the value of a 7 p.m. Friday table - not just in money, but in moral worth?

The only way to get in?

Table8 is partially funded by corporate expense management service Concur, and Jayaram says the principal market is expense-account diners. "Seventy-five percent of business travelers arrive at their destination with less than 10 days' notice," he says. "They're out of the best restaurants." He compares Table8's service to the ticket-reselling site StubHub, which has gained grudging acceptance in the realm of sporting and music events.

Like Resy and Beeline (tagline: "Dine when you want, not when you're told"), which are both about to hit the Bay Area, Table8 asks partner restaurants to set aside one or two tables on high-traffic nights and splits its fee with the business.

So does another app, Killer Rezzy, at least with "in-network" restaurants. CEO Sasha Tcherevkoff says the site also acts as a concierge for its 5,000 members, calling for reservations at other restaurants in San Francisco, Paris and London. If the member can't keep the reservation, Killer Rezzy posts it for sale to the public.

This practice of offering reservations for sale without the restaurant's knowledge can provoke vitriol. Robert Wright, general manager at the ultra-popular Frances, had no idea that Killer Rezzy had listed the Castro restaurant on its website until The Chronicle informed him. Like Cole, Wright has turned down several pitches from reservation services, calling companies like Table8 and Killer Rezzy "parasitic."

"They're capitalizing on brands that have become very popular," Wright adds. "They're trying to sell the commodity of their popularity and monetize it for themselves."

One San Francisco website, ReservationHop, attempted to acquire Open Table reservations under assumed names and sell them for $5. The site tweeted out its debut on July 3 and was met with a social-media hate-storm.

Founder Brian Mayer, who wrote a post called "How I Became the Most Hated Person in San Francisco, for a Day" within 24 hours on his personal blog, admitted that he'd created the site over the course of a weekend without consulting any restaurants. On July 8, he announced that ReservationHop was undergoing a "soft pivot." No reservations are currently for sale, and Mayer did not respond to a request for comment.

Open letter objecting

Cole of Stones Throw writes in an open letter posted to Inside Scoop, The Chronicle's food blog, that he does not begrudge Table8, Killer Rezzy and Beeline their entrepreneurial savvy. Nor is he antitech. He's angry at the restaurants that are willing to participate.

Not 'egalitarian'

"The ultimate result is the restaurants and reservation companies are padding their pockets at the expense of providing an egalitarian experience for anyone who chooses to come and dine at their restaurant," he writes. Cole points out that the popular restaurants most sought out by reservation-sales sites have no problem filling Saturday prime-time tables.

But that's not the point, says John Clark, co-chef/owner of Foreign Cinema in the Mission.

Foreign Cinema, one of the early users of Open Table, joined Table8 two months ago and has sold about 10 seats through the service. Clark did it because he frequently finds himself with last-minute nights off, a kid, and no way to go out to his friends' restaurants. Clark is also curious about Table8's claims that he'll be able to attract a new, and high-spending, clientele.

"We did not do this to get more money," he said. "We did it to figure out how these concierge services would be able to serve their clients. My industry is changing, and I don't know how. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude."